GOP questions a Terry McAuliffe appointee

Republican activists are questioning new Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s appointment of a longtime GOP consultant to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverages Control Board, suggesting it was part of a political payoff for endorsing and working for his campaign.

Boyd Marcus, a veteran political strategist who had advised Republican candidates in Virginia for decades, was appointed Wednesday to the board, a position that local media reported pays around $124,000 a year. After working for GOP pols such as former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Marcus signed on with the McAuliffe campaign as an adviser in August — a move that prompted a round of stories about whether the state GOP was going in the wrong direction.

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In an email to reporters Thursday afternoon, former Cuccinelli senior adviser Chris LaCivita said Marcus came to him over the summer, in the heat of the gubernatorial election, and suggested he was considering taking a job with the McAuliffe campaign. Marcus had been an adviser to GOP Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who publicly mulled an independent bid for governor but decided against it.

LaCivita wrote that he told Marcus he would help him look for GOP consulting work in other states, but then received an email from Marcus asking if there was a spot open with the Cuccinelli campaign.

“While I am open to discuss any offer of employment by anyone I would anticipate needing something in the range of $75,000 — $100,000 for this project,” Marcus wrote to LaCivita at the time.

Marcus ultimately went on to join the McAuliffe campaign, which paid him $40,000, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

LaCivita suggested that Marcus was aware he’d get a state appointment when he took the consulting job with McAuliffe’s campaign.

“Boyd let several people know that part of his arrangement would also get him an appointment to the ABC Board, should McAuliffe win,” LaCivita wrote. “That was something I made public with several reporters, back in August.”

McAuliffe’s office did not comment on LaCivita’s allegations. Marcus did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from POLITICO.

The Republican Party of Virginia also hit Marcus on what Chairman Pat Mullins implied was a politically motivated appointment to the ABC Board.

“It’s nice to know the exchange rate for 30 pieces of silver these days is about $122,000 per year plus benefits,” Mullins said in a statement.